Rigor is a curriculum goal that is being pushed throughout education. It is meant to improve students’ ability to understand complex concepts, but sometimes is misunderstood to mean students should work with difficult concepts. Sometimes even the most difficult of subjects is not also a rigorous lesson. When teachers take some time to analyze their current lessons for rigor they can find where it is already present and where it might be added.
What is Rigor?
According to Strong, Silver, and Perini, “Rigor is the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging.” Students learn to manage difficult content and work with difficult ideas. They are presented with content created from interconnected parts or that is comprised of multiple meanings. Lessons might include sorting through a dilemma or struggling with an emotionally challenging problem. It is concerned with the quality, or depth, of the content more than the quantity, or breadth.
Adding Rigor to Lessons
Checking curriculum or lessons for rigor includes lessons for all students; rigor is not limited to gifted or college bound programs. Look for different ways that content can be presented and analyzed. Ask questions about the activities such as:
- Are the activities inquiry or project based, requiring students to form their own answers?
- Do students use the results of their answers to explore ways they can make a difference in the world around them?
- Do lessons contain elements from different disciplines, encouraging students to make connections with previous knowledge?
- Are students asked to examine their own emotions concerning dilemmas or to take a position on a controversial topic?
Though not all lessons need to contain rigor, students should be exposed to rigorous curriculum throughout the week. If very few lessons contain rigor, then find existing lessons into which to incorporate rigorous activities. For example, learning about a writing style might include an analysis of the author’s meaning or intent or including a discussion about bioethics in a biology unit.
Rigor means that students are challenged to understand and work with difficult concepts. They are challenged to make their own discoveries and expand their understanding about how the world works. When teachers take the time to examine their curriculum and target some lessons for more rigorous learning activities they empower their students to learn how to learn.
Reference:
Strong, Richard W., Silver, Harvey F. and Perini, Matthew J. Teaching What Matters Most: Standards and Strategies for Raising Student Achievement. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2001.
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